Stamp



(No Model.)

W. B. BUNKER.

STAMP APPLYING DEVICE.

No. 452,257. Patented May 12', 1891.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

\VILLIAM B. BUNKER, OF \VARREN, ILLINOIS.

STAMP-APPLYING DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 452,257, dated May 12,1891.

Application filed September 12, 1890. Serial No. 864,759. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM B. BUNKER, a resident of VVarrenjn the county of J o Daviess and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Stamp-Applying Devices; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to improvements in devices for applying stamps to letters and packages, and is clearly described and explained in this specification and shown in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a view of my improved stamping device, partly in side elevation and partly in vertical section; and Fig. 3 is a bottom plan thereof.

In the views, A is a handle of ordinary form, adapted to be grasped by the operator. A is a preferably metallic shank set in the handle and extending from one end thereof, and A is a plunger or follower, preferably of rubber or other elastic material, fastened to the end of the shank, the handle, shank, and plunger forming when connected a single element of the device.

B is ablock of wood or metal fitting loosely on the shank and free to slide thereon, but held normallyin contact with the plunger A by means of the spring B interposed between theblock and the end of the handle.

0 is a chamber having walls, preferably of rubber or other elastic material, and an internal space of rectangular cross-section substantially the same as the area of a postagestamp of the form intended to be applied by the device, the chamber being fastened to the lower face of the block either permanently or detachably by any suitable means-as, for

instance, by set-screws D, passing through a flange 12, formed on the lower edge of the block 13 and encircling the walls of the chamber. On the lower margin of the walls of the chamber is formed a slight internal flange c of sufficient width or projection to prevent the accidental escape of the stamp from the chamber, and yet to permit the withdrawal of the stamp therefrom on the application of sufficient pressure.

If a number of stamps be placed in the chamber with their gummed faces downward, either by pressing them upward from below or by removing the chamber and filling it from above they may be brought into the position shown in Fig. 1 by placing the lower end of the device upon any solid base and pressing the handle and plunger downward until all the stamps are in a comparatively compact body in the bottom of the chamber, and if when the stamps are in this position they be pressed upon any moistening-pad the gummed or lower surface of the bottom stamp will be wet sufficiently to make it adhesive, when pressure of the stamp upon any dry surface, as that of a letter or package, will cause the stamp to adhere to the said surface and will withdraw it from the chamber,thereby exposing the stamp next above it and leaving it in position where it is ready for a similar operation. It is evidentthat the operation thus described may be repeated until the chamber is entirely emptied of stamps; and as the application of each stamp involves only the pressing of the stamp upon a moistened sponge or other pad and then upon the surface to which the stamp is to be applied the device can be operated very rapidly and requires no skill whatever upon the part of the operator. I have found in practice that while the chamber 0 and follower A may be of any desired material they operate more satisfactorily and easily if made of rubber or other elastic material. If the chamber and its marginal flanges c be of rigid material, the stamp can only be drawn from the chamber by bending or yielding at its edges sufficiently to escape from the flanges of the chamber, whereas if the walls of the chamber and the flanges thereon be of elastic material the stamp may be withdrawn without bending or yielding at its edges. The elasticity of the follower A permits it to change its angle slightly with reference to the shank to which it is fastened, so that it may remain substantially parallel to the surface on which the stamp is to be fastened, even if the handle and shank be not exactly at right angles to said surface when the stamp is applied. If the follower be formed of a rigid material, this effect may be secured, however, by giving it a slight play upon the shank instead of fastening it rigidly thereto.

I am aware that the details of construction of the device shown and described may be varied in many particulars without affecting the principle of its construction or operation; and I desire therefore not to limit the invention to the precise form shown, this form being intended merely as one operative and practical illustration of the invention.

Having now described and explained my invention,what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a stamp-affixing device, a downwardlyopen stamp-chamber of rubber or the like elastic material, provided with a suitable handle and combined with means for forcing stamps downward within the chamber.

\VILIIIAM B. BUNKER.

Vitnesses:

RoBT. II. W1Lns, JOHN A. FRANCISCO. 

